Highly coveted in the pet trade, the Indonesian blue monitor tree lizard will receive protection from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services under its Endangered Species Act. The agency used its emergency authority to ban the import and sale of blue tree monitor lizards in the United States.
The population of the blue tree monitor lizard, which only exists in the wild on Batanta Island in Indonesia, has drastically decreased because of the exotic pet market in the United States and habitat loss.
“This ban on imports to the United States will finally give these lizards a chance to recover in the wild, but we need to act fast to protect the species permanently or risk extinction,” Dianne Dubois, a staff scientist at the Center of Biological Diversity, said.
The exotic pet trade in the United States is one of the largest globally with reptiles being a common species traded. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, close to 4,000 species were traded since 2000. The U.S. Endangered Species Act “protects foreign endangered species by banning their import and sale, increasing awareness, and providing financial assistance,” according to a press release.
Protection for the blue monitor tree lizard will continue for 240 day in which the Service will go through the public process to finalize the listing.
“I’m delighted the Fish and Wildlife Service agreed that these lizards need emergency protection,” said Dianne Dubois, a staff scientist at the Center. “Far too many animals teetering on the brink of extinction are being collected into oblivion to fuel the U.S. pet trade. It’s high time we started using emergency listings and everything else in the toolbox to protect reptiles, amphibians and aquarium fish from this unsustainable demand.”
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